When I take my daily walk, I tend to either walk in silence or listen to a podcast. I find that by doing either, I can briefly put aside those things on which I might otherwise be ruminating – or I can gain insight into them.

On this particular day, I was listening to Greg McKeown's exceptional "Essentialism" podcast, and his guest literally said something that made me stop and hit the 15-second reverse button. Twice. His guest, Ben Bergeron, trains high-octane athletes for the high-octane sport of "Cross Fit." These are some of the most highly conditioned athletes in the world, but they're also human: they worry. Sometimes a lot.

Worrying detracts from good performance, so Bergeron takes the athletes through an extensive mental exercise where they

identify all of the things that might take up some mindspace; things that might worry them; things that are an issue that we should be thinking about or anything that could go wrong in training or in competition.

They then categorize those thoughts as either in their power to change or influence or outside their power to control. Bergeron then added:

80% of things you’re worrying about are ultimately outside your control.

And that's where I stopped and hit the reverse button. Twice.

[AN ASIDE: "You mean that some 80% of all that crap that wakes me up at three in the morning and has me tossing and turning is potentially outside of my control?" I asked a squirrel perched upside down on the trunk of a nearby tree. I think it nodded in reply.]

Bergeron then goes on to explain that if you're complaining, whining, or making excuses about something, that something is usually outside of your control. So, he advises his clients to focus on what they can control, and in the athlete's world, that's nutrition, conditioning, sleep, recovery, and mindset. The other things? Let them go.

The idea of focusing on what you can control leads us to this week's podcast guest, elementary school principal JoAnne Duncan. Let's look at her potential worry situation. COVID-19 just may be a principal's worst nightmare, but as JoAnne reasons, the disease itself is outside her control; what's in her control is how she helps her faculty, kids, and community adjust to it.

Reinforcing Bergeron's advice, Ben and Roz Zander, authors of The Art of Possibility, explain the skill JoAnne so aptly demonstrates as "being present with the way things are without resistance." “Without resistance” doesn't mean being resigned to the way things are. Rather it means not dwelling on the negative feelings associated with a given situation. "Letting go of resistance" allows you to turn to the more productive question "What do we want to do from here?"

And as you listen to this episode, you'll hear that JoAnne excels at answering that question.

If you made it this far, thank you! And if you're intrigued enough to listen to the podcast episode, thank you again! No? Hey, don't worry about it.

Dr. Bernie Siegel broke new ground with his monumental book Love, Medicine, and Miracles. Today Bernie continues to impart wisdom about the true nature of love, life, and past lives in his entertaining and enlightening debut fiction novel Three Men, Six Lives.

A grand adventure born of Bernie’s experience of his current and past lives awaits you!

Tune in as Bernie shares the inspiration for his three engaging characters Jon Hokmak, George Dingfelder, and Carmine Birsamatto, and find out why Dr. Brian Weiss, NY Times best-selling author of Many Lives, Many Masters says;

Three Men, Six Lives is Dr. Bernie Siegel's latest contribution to the evolution of medicine and psychiatry and to the transformative power of love as the ultimate healer. Timeless wisdom flows from the mouths of Bernie’s characters in this important and entertaining book. Concepts of spiritual psychotherapy, past lives, and the fearless courage born of unconditional love and awakened consciousness are carefully explored. I highly recommend Three Men, Six Lives to you.

Click to find out more about Three Men Six Lives.

BERNIE S. SIEGEL, MD is a NY Times bestselling author, lecturer, founder of ECaP (Exceptional Cancer Patients), and a retired pediatric/general surgeon. Bernie has been called a leading teacher of the Mind-Body Connection and is well known for his groundbreaking book Love, Medicine, and Miracles. Bernie is also the co-author with his grandson Charlie Siegel of their book of short writings and poetry When You Realize How Perfect Everything Is.

In This Episode, Darlene discusses:

* How music taps into the power of you.

* How music is important and comes in many forms.

She talks about Rock, Opera, Classical, and the Blues. Key Takeaways:

* Music can change the way we feel and think. Melissa Hughes' article discusses this: The Best Music to Boost the Brain: What's Your Favorite?

* Music can enhance and be therapeutic. “The older I get, the more I embrace many forms of music.”

Have you ever noticed that good answers and good choices rarely occur when we are stressed out or in crisis mode? You cannot focus. You cannot find clarity of thought. You cannot rationally weigh the pros and cons. It is like trying to hold back the ocean during high tide. You are simply reacting to a situation you cannot change, alter, or win. Our cluttered mind then tells us we have lost or we failed. At this point, our lives are “CRAPPY.” So how do we go from CRAPPY back to HAPPY? My guests today are Kat O'Keefe-Kanavos, one of the primary authors of Crappy to Happy, and Mike Pitocco a contributing author. The book CRAPPY to HAPPY is being released today.

Dennis Pitocco is Founder, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of BizCatalyst 360°, an Award-Winning life, culture, and biz new media digest, serving as not just another website, but rather as a hub of creative expression and personal growth designed with and for our writers and our community. With an emphasis on action, their 700+ global contributors empower people to transition from knowing what to do to actually doing it —all complemented by syndication relationships with a choice group of equally innovative media outlets. Today and every day, BizCatalyst 360° simply delivers the very best insights, intelligence, and inspiration available anywhere —doing it their way by placing their writers and audience at the forefront. It's magical. It's evergreen. And quite frankly, it's just good stuff. Period. He is also Founder & Chief Encouragement Officer of GoodWorks 360°, their affiliated global nonprofit social impact enterprise, dedicated to providing mission-critical pro bono services to good nonprofits worldwide. Connect with him on LinkedIn to learn more about his background. Dennis is a contributing author to the Best-Selling Book Chaos to Clarity: Sacred Stories of Transformational Change.

Quotes

‘Be ahead of the curve on discovering humanity.’

‘Constructively disrupt.’

‘What can we do to rediscover humanity?’

‘Take the power and make it for good.’

‘Courage is what it takes to stand up and listen.’

Filomena Day is a best-selling author offering simple strategies and time-tested tips and techniques to show clients better ways to improve their relationships with money and others.

She hosts and produces The M Power Hour, a television series empowering viewers to improve their WHOLE life through episodes covering Wealth, Health, Organization, Lifestyle/Love-life, and Entertainment.

Her business reflects her “wholeness success” philosophy and is the culmination of a 40+ year career providing personal and professional development programs and financial services as a business and executive coach and consultant, adjunct college professor, group and retreat facilitator, holistic financial planner, energy practitioner, Certified College Planning Advisor, and a CPA.

In this interview, Filomena shares how she recovers from her own devastating dilemmas using a simple technique that can immediately change an emotional response to any ‘bitchuation’ as she has coined a bad situation. Her Zio Luigi showed her the technique when she was 12 years old visiting with her family in Italy.  It’s a technique that has helped her develop an automatic positive response to various situations that allows her to quickly move out of old spaces (mindsets), into new places, move on and move ahead one positive decision at a time and one day at a time. She now uses it repeatedly to improve all areas of her whole life and has been incorporated into her “wholeness success” philosophy.

Filomena operates from a belief that our 'Yes' or 'No' responses to the opportunities provided by the Universe can help us overcome obstacles and create pathways to fulfill dreams and deepest desires.

She explains a proprietary process she calls the ‘Yesses & Messes of Opportunities’ which she practices and coaches clients through that uncovers the blessings and messages in each situation, even when saying ‘yes’ results in a misstep or mistake. By ‘connecting the dots’ in this process, the results reveal the bigger picture of one’s potentiality.  The practice of the process helps to formulate the spiritual discernment to intuit what and who to say ‘yes’ to!

Listen in and discover how the answers to three daily questions become the foundation of beliefs that either serve you or enslave you!

Amid the chaos we are facing, a number of people are using this time to look inwardly in the hope of finding a sense of calm and peace and meaning. These people have said to me “Do I even want to return to my old normal, my old job, my old habits, with all the stress and anxiety? I want to be alive with a capital A.” There has to be a better way. Maybe this is the opportunity to change.” But how do we change? What do we change? And the real question - Do we really want to change? Listen to Gina Mazza tell her amazing story of transformation as we discuss her book, Everything Matters - Nothing Matters.

You will know who you are, with the freedom to be it.

You will know what you want, with the daring to go for it.

Great business leaders exhibit many of the same character traits.  Here’s number five in the series describing the top character traits of great business leaders – integrity.  It is both good morals as well as good business.  See how you measure up.

Executive coach and author of Are You Listening or Just Waiting to Speak, Jane Adshead-Grant is the guest on today’s show. She shares deep insights about listening with host Kevin Monroe, including why she discourages note-taking during conversations.

Don’t Take Notes

Kevin often creates some questions to ask podcast guests as a springboard to their conversation. While they are speaking, he jots down notes so that he remembers important points or ideas he wants to revisit. Jane discourages this practice. She says that instead of taking notes, he should trust himself.

When you listen deeply, you’re allowing the speaker to continue to think and speak at their very best.

You will remember the essential elements of what they said, she assures Kevin. To listen deeply, you must first be at ease with yourself as the listener; you must know that both speaker and listener have equal capacity to think, listen and share; and you must appreciate each other for the qualities that you see in one another.

The Gift of Time

Kevin asks what listeners can do to be more present in the conversation. Jane advises them to give themselves the gift of this time, free from judgment, distraction, and interruption. Distraction can be both internal and external, she says. An example of internal distraction is when your mind wanders; she advises that you should mentally check yourself when this happens and bring your focus back to the conversation. The most common external distraction is the phone: just put it on silent. When you actively give your attention - paying attention is more passive and reactive, Jane says - you’re giving respect to the other person. You’re saying that in this moment they are more important than anything else.

Let Silence Do the Heavy Lifting

Jane writes in her book that we should let silence do the heavy lifting. Kevin asks her to unpack that statement. She explains that people need time to process questions or information. Giving them the opportunity to pause while they process their thoughts is a real gift. Humans think in waves and pauses: we have a wave of thinking, and then we naturally pause. If we allow that silence for long enough, the brain itself will soar once more in a new way, Jane says.

Don’t Interrupt

The brain receives an interruption like an assault, Jane reveals. One of the greatest things we can do is resist the urge to interrupt and allow the person to complete their thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Interrupting prevents the person from flourishing into who they are meant to become. If you absolutely must interrupt, you should do it as gracefully as possible, while the person takes a pause. If you inadvertently interrupt someone, apologize.

Listening is a Gift Jane reminds us that listening is a gift that is worth mastering because it shows how much you care. When you listen to someone to generate their best thinking, it frees them to be more, to create more, to feel more courageous. Whereas time is the currency of leadership, listening is the currency of relationship.

Being connected to everything has disconnected us from ourselves.

~Dennis J. Pitocco

Today’s featured bestselling author is global solopreneur, constructive disruptor, and Founder, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of BIZCATALYST 360° and Founder & CEO of GOODWORKS 360°, Dennis J. Pitocco. Dennis and I talk about his pilgrimage down the Camino de Santiago and the power of having a “Disconnect Bucket List”.

Key Takeaways:

A strong “why” that’s not about you can push you further forward.

A long, peaceful walk will clear your thinking.

Disconnect from people who only leech from you

You don’t have to walk 200 miles to learn how to be in the present moment.